If you’ve done any researching into matters bibliographical, you know how it goes. You’re looking up one thing, you find another. In the case at hand, I was trying to pin down some information on a performance of Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White on TV in the early 1960s. I found it without too much trouble, but in the process I discovered that it happened to be an episode of a series that not only do I not ever remember seeing, I don’t even remember reading about it: The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries.

It was on, as it turns out, while I was off in college in a town so small that there we could get only one channel, and even though the local station was an NBC affiliate, I don’t remember taking very many study breaks to watch television. Except for Johnny Carson late at night, I do admit, thinking back upon it, every once in a while.

More investigating was in order. There’s nothing on the series in my only handy in-print resource, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, 1946-Present, 3rd Edition, by Tim Brooks & Earle Marsh.

So it was off to the computer and www.imdb.com, and lo, there it is. Here’s a list of the titles of the stories that IMDB says were adapted:

The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries. A series of seven television specials hosted by John Welch.

Season 1, Episode 1: The Bat [Mary Roberts Rinehart]
Original Air Date: 31 March 1960

From Time magazine April 4, 1960:

Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (NBC, 9-10 p.m.). The first of a series of classic mysteries adapted for TV. Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Bat stars Helen Hayes and Jason Robards Jr. Host: Joseph Welch.

Season 1, Episode 2: The Burning Court [John Dickson Carr]
Original Air Date: 24 April 1960

Season 1, Episode 3: The Woman in White [Wilkie Collins]
Original Air Date: 23 May 1960

Season 1, Episode 4: The Dachet Diamonds [Richard Marsh]
Original Air Date: 20 September 1960

Season 1, Episode 5: The Inn of the Flying Dragon [Sheridan Le Fanu]
Original Air Date: 18 October 1960

Season 1, Episode 7: The Great Impersonation [E. Philips Oppenheim]
Original Air Date: 15 November 1960

But continuing on and doing some Googling around, I came up with the following, a short piece from the NY Times. Where does this fit in?

It all began in 1960 as a stage play called “Prescription: Murder” written by whodunit enthusiasts Richard Levinson and William Link. Joseph Cotten starred as a prominent society doctor who smugly believed he had committed the perfect murder when he knocked off his wife. The detective assigned to the case was a slovenly, disorganized seemingly aphasic old coot played by Thomas Mitchell. Secure in the assumption that so cloddish and unprepossessing a detective would ever be smart enough to tumble to his guilt, the doctor allowed the elderly cop to engage in a game of cat and mouse as they affably discussed possible motives and methods related to the murder. But the doc had underestimated the detective, who had a mind like a steel trap, and by the end of the play had ever so politely and unassumingly allowed the murderer to hang himself with his own words. “Prescription Murder” never made it to Broadway, but Levinson and Link revived the property as a one-hour TV drama on the NBC anthology The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries, with Bert Freed in the role of the unkempt but cagey detective, now named Lt. Columbo. [No date given.]

and this, also from a Time magazine TV column:

Tuesday, 09-27-60

The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (NBC, 10-11 p.m.). The Cat and the Canary [John Willard, play]

It doesn’t make sense for me to try to put anything more together if a episode log has already been done. If someone’s already done one, please let me know about it. My attention has been gotten.

[UPDATE 01-25-07] To answer my own question, yes, according to the BFI website, “The Cat and the Canary” is a Dow program and correctly should be number five in the series, contrary to IMDB, with “The Inn of the Flying Dragon” number six.

Of course, to return to the theme I began at the beginning of this blog entry, while checking out the Dow series, I came across yet another series called Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries (1973-74), which is also not found in B&M, but is included on IMBD. What network it was on, or whether it was syndicated, I know nothing more.

Season 1, Episode 1: Captain Rogers
Original Air Date: 1 September 1973

Season 1, Episode 2: The Leather Funnel
Original Air Date: 8 September 1973

Season 1, Episode 3: A Terribly Strange Bed
Original Air Date: 15 September 1973

Season 1, Episode 4: La Grande Breteche
Original Air Date: 22 September 1973

Season 1, Episode 5: The Dinner Party
Original Air Date: 29 September 1973

Season 1, Episode 6: Money to Burn
Original Air Date: 6 October 1973

Season 1, Episode 7: In the Confessional
Original Air Date: 13 October 1973

Season 1, Episode 8: Unseen Alibi
Original Air Date: 20 October 1973

Season 1, Episode 9: Battle of Wits
Original Air Date: 27 October 1973

Season 1, Episode 10: A Point of Law
Original Air Date: 3 November 1973

Season 1, Episode 11: The Monkey’s Paw
Original Air Date: 10 November 1973

Season 1, Episode 12: The Ingenious Reporter
Original Air Date: 17 November 1973

Season 1, Episode 13: Death of an Old-Fashioned Girl
Original Air Date: 24 November 1973

Season 1, Episode 14: For Sale – Silence
Original Air Date: 1 December 1973

Season 1, Episode 15: The Inspiration of Mr. Budd
Original Air Date: 8 December 1973

Season 1, Episode 16: An Affair of Honour
Original Air Date: 15 December 1973

Season 1, Episode 17: Farewell to the Faulkners
Original Air Date: 22 December 1973

Season 1, Episode 18: The Power of Fear
Original Air Date: 29 December 1973

Season 1, Episode 19: Where There Is a Will
Original Air Date: 5 January 1974

Season 1, Episode 20: A Time to Remember
Original Air Date: 12 January 1974

Season 1, Episode 21: Ice Storm
Original Air Date: 19 January 1974

Season 1, Episode 22: Come Into My Parlor
Original Air Date: 26 January 1974

Season 1, Episode 23: Compliments of the Season
Original Air Date: 3 February 1974

Season 1, Episode 24: Under Suspicion
Original Air Date: 10 February 1974

Season 1, Episode 25: Trial for Murder
Original Air Date: 17 February 1974

Season 1, Episode 26: The Furnished Room
Original Air Date: 24 February 1974

I never saw this one, either. Whatever you can tell me about it would once again be appreciated.

[UPDATE: 01-26-07] Mark Murphy sent me an email which addresses two issues. The first one deals with the genesis of the Lt. Columbo character — as hard as it may be to believe, the piece quoted above from the New York Times has gotten several of its facts wrong. Mark has led me to enough information about the origins of the character that I’ve decided to make a separate post out it. Look for it soon.

Mark also goes on to say, and I’m quoting here:

I also remember the Orson Welles “Great Mysteries” shows. They were a half-hour, syndicated. I think they were done in England, with Welles doing the intros. I don’t remember being very impressed by them, but then I was a kid then.

“Great Mysteries” was one of a number of shows syndicators made money with when the FCC started its “family hour” rule. (I think that’s what it was called, though I could be wrong.)

As I recall, before this rule took effect, network programming ran from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. The rule restricted it to 8 to 11 p.m. under the theory that local stations would produce local content to fill the extra half-hour. What they got was stuff like “Great Mysteries” and game shows.

Hope this helps, and I enjoyed your site.

Mark Murphy

Thank you, Mark. Yes, I remember when that “family hour” ruling came along, prompted by the FCC. It was early in 1975. Not only did it provide for the “family hour” between 7 pm and 8, but the network heads adopted a self-declared “family viewing” hour in the first hour of network evening prime-time (8:00-9:00 P.M., Eastern time). Quick to complain was Norman Lear producer of the popular but still controversial comedy, All in the Family. Follow the link to learn more about it.
[UPDATE 01-27-07] Taken from a followup email from Mark M. —

As I recall, our local NBC affiliate stuck the Orson Welles shows on on Sunday nights at 10:30; network programming on Sundays on those days was 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. I think the ABC affiliate did something similar with Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected show.

I only recall two episodes of the Welles show. One, “The Inspiration of Mr. Budd,” was based on a Dorothy Sayers story. I think Hugh Griffith may have played the heavy. Another was based on a Stanley Ellin story, the twist being (as I recall) that the victim had accidentally stabbed herself to death.

Amazing how I can seem to recall stuff like this but can’t always remember where I left the remote control, or my keys….

Best,
Mark M.

That’s because those fellows have minds of their own. But all seriousness aside, it beginning to look as though someone (maybe even me) should do some annotations for the Orson Welles series. Who wrote the original stories, and who the cast members were for each episode, that sort of thing.

Yes, it’s probably all on IMDB, but you have to work to find it. Which is also probably why I won’t get to it right away, either.

9 Responses to “Television’s GREAT MYSTERIES.”

[…] I would like to submit a follow-up on the interesting observations about The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (for which, incidentally, Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and Collins’s “The Moonstone” were also planned, but remained unproduced) and Orson Welles Great Mysteries. […]

I would like to purchase the 1973 series on DVD for instructional purchases. I teach “The Leather Funnel” which is one of the series from 1973. Do you know anything about its availability? I can find nothing on IMDB.

I think this must be the version of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Bat I saw when I was a small child. (I’m not sure how old I was, but I was born in 1954, so if this is the one I would have been five or six, which seems about right. It made a HUGE impression on me. A group of people are occupying the traditional “old, dark house” but it is also occupied by an unseen master criminal the press has dubbed “the Bat” because he leaves various kinds of bats behind as calling cards to show where he has been and terrorize his victims. He is looking for treasure rumored to have been hidden in the house. In a climactic moment the lights go out and when they go back on, a gigantic (real) bat is seen spread-eagled over the mantle of the fireplace.

I was fascinated by the advertising spots for the coming production, and got to see part of it before I was made to go to bed! The whole thing was so atmospheric and suspenseful! What I wouldn’t give to see it now.

Shortly after the airing I was out with my mother when I spotted my first Batman comic book at a newsstand. I begged my Mom to buy it for me, which she did, after carefully explaining that it wasn’t the same as The Bat that has been shown on television. After that one issue I was hooked, and became obsessed with the original Batman character (not the grim, hyper-realistic thing he has mutated into over the decades). As an adult I was immensely pleased to discover that the creators of the Batman comic — Bob Kane and Bill Finger — had taken their inspiration from the 1926 silent movie version of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Bat! (Some accounts claim it was the 1931 talkie version, entitled The Bat Whispers, but I think the silent is more likely because when we finally see the master criminal toward the end of the silent version, he is wearing a bizarre bat mask not entirely dissimilar to Batman’s headgear. Also, there is a scene in the silent where a moth on a car’s headlight creates a silhouette that is mistaken for another indication of the Bat’s presence, and which looks very much like the famous bat-signal that would become such an iconic part of the Batman legend.) Cool, huh? The same wonderful mystery story that influenced the creators of Batman led the way for my young self to become a fan of their creation.

Anyway, if there’s anyone out there in a position to bring the televised version of The Bat to DVD, I hope you’ll get on it sooner rather than later! I would not mind seeing other adaptations in this series of classic mystery and supernatural tales, either, for instance Wilkie Collins’ “The Woman in White,” A Terribly Strange Bed” (Collins again) and O. Henry’s “The Furnished Room,” to cite just a few titles I recognize.

Strange that when I was doing one of my earlier backtracks, I missed this one.

Anyhow, here are a couple of clarifications, for anyone who finds this:

– The host of the Dow Hour Of Great mysteries was Joseph N. Welch, of Army-McCarthy and Anatomy Of A Murder fame.
As it happens, I found an interview with Welch in one of my 1960 TV Guides, in connection with the specials. Welch clearly relished his late-in-life celebrity, which sadly ended with his death not long after the interview was published. I can’t recall who may have replaced him on the Dow series, or if it was simply discontinued (correction, as always, welcomed).

– The FCC ruling that gave birth to Orson Welles Great Mysteries among many others, was the Prime Time Access Rule. according to this rule, which took effect in the fall of 1971, the three major networks, which up to then had programmed from 7:30pm to 11:00pm Eastern time, were required to relinquish one half-hour per night (Sundays excepted) to local stations for their own programming. The idea was to encourage local stations to do more public affairs and artistic programs geared to their own markets, and not be so dependent on the national nets.
In the forty years since the PTAR took effect, we’ve all seen just how effective it’s been in revitalizing local programming; i.e., zip-a-dee-doo-dah.

Well, there it is, five-and-a-half years late, but what the hell – that’s what archives are for, right?

“Saudek didn’t want to update the gimmicky play, but rather present it the way it was presented in 1920. The results for this inaugural installment in the Dow series were lurid and unbelievable.”

He quotes the review from “Variety,” “The Bat is old hat. Robert Saude (sic) prided his production in fidelity to the original, let the bodies fall where they may. A lighter touch may have devintaged this oldster and made it more palatable to Hitchcock buffs. Not in TVs lifetime has there been such a conglomeration of violence, murder, mayhem and assorted crimes herded into one hour…played with all the sinister markings by Jason Robards Jr. Collectively, the acting was more reflective of (the) period than contemporary theatre.”

Dow Chemical wanted a spring TV show to promote its new anti-freeze called Dowgard. Represented by MacManus, John & Adams agency, Dow ordered 12 programs from Robert Saudek Associates. Saudek (Omnibus) produced the live on video tape (Scotch Video tape was used) specials that went under the title DOW HOUR OF GREAT MYSTERIES.

Three programs were show on NBC at various times during the spring of 1960. Nine were scheduled to air on NBC, Tuesday at 10pm-11pm in the fall. However only four were aired. It was reported in “Broadcasting,” Dow was considering a change in format or product for the final five shows contacted to Saudek. I have been unable to find any more GREAT MYSTERIES or if Dow had Saudek do any other type of show to fill out the contract.

THE CAT & THE CANARY (9/27/60) Tuesday at 10pm. John Willard. Written by Kelley Roos (William & Audrey Roos). Directed by William A. Graham. CAST: Collin Wilcox, Andrew Duggan, Sarah Marshall, Telly Savalas, George Macready and Hortense Alden. Reportedly in color. THE GREAT AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHTS ON THE SCREEN by Jerry Roberts quoted William Torbert Leonard Theatre: Stage to Screen to Television, “…played to the hilt by a competent cast, the play was an hour of well-balanced acting, excitement and fun.”